Cardiovascular System: Children

Barry Sheerman MP asks Minister of State David Lammy if he can assure the people that our government will continue to invest in the vitally important part of our society, education.

 

 

David Lammy (Minister of State (Higher Education and Intellectual Property), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Tottenham, Labour)

On the hon. Lady's serious point, she will be aware of the Worton review on languages. I welcome that review. Professor Worton has recommended a new forum, which I am happy to chair, to try to ensure that university languages departments diversify and extend beyond traditional European languages, particularly in developing Chinese and some of the Asian languages over the next while. I welcome that and we will continue to consider the issue.

On the political points that the hon. Lady raises, the Liberal Democrats' position is constantly changing. I ask her to recognise that the leader of her party has changed their position and is flip-flopping between whether they are for tuition fees or against them, and I note the partisan nature of how they are seeking to do this. The point is this: the Lib Dems can abolish tuition fees only if they are content to cut numbers; they cannot have both. They cannot challenge us on widening participation and then stand by their position on tuition fees.

 

Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield, Labour)

Does my right hon. Friend agree that if he had been one of my students and presented this statement as an essay many years ago, when I was a university lecturer, I would have said that it was a bit vague in terms of what it is trying to deliver? If this is the future of universities-there is some very good stuff here-can we be sure that the Government, if re-elected, will, year on year, increase the amount of money invested in this absolutely vital resource of our economy?

 

David Lammy (Minister of State (Higher Education and Intellectual Property), Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; Tottenham, Labour)

I know that my hon. Friend is a quick reader, but I cannot believe that he has managed to consume the entire report quite so quickly. I promise him that there is meaty detail in the document. He is a valiant campaigner for funding for higher education, and I hope that he knows that the Government recognise that it is a key component of our economy and needs to continue to be properly resourced.